Green Bay — The final images of 2012 led to an off-season of consternation. Colin Kaepernick running wild. Michael Crabtree catching everything in sight. Frank Gore hammering his way through everything that crossed his path.

And when it was over, the San Francisco 49ers had compiled a remarkable 579 yards during their 45-31 playoff rout of the Green Bay Packers in January.

Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers — who has seen almost everything in his four-plus decades in the sport — is still haunted by that performance. And making sure there's not a sequel was a major emphasis in Green Bay this off-season.

The Packers get a chance to begin making amends when they travel to San Francisco on Sunday. Capers talked about the playoff loss, Kaepernick and the 49ers.

Q: When you reviewed the 49ers playoff loss this off-season, were there two or three major things that just drove you nuts?

A: Here were the biggest issues. No. 1, the quarterback scrambles in the first half.

No. 2, third downs. They had six third-and-10-pluses and they converted four of them. You can't win a football game doing that. A lot has been made of the read option and all that. And there's one play that probably sticks in everybody's mind and that's the (56)-yarder (a TD run by quarterback Colin Kaepernick). It wasn't the read option in the first half. It really was us having people covered up and he'd pull the ball down and run for first downs. And it didn't make any difference if we'd rush four, five, six or had a guy near him. He just made plays. The third down was really big. You can't beat a good football team if you let them convert four out of six third-and-longs.

Q: What percentage of your off-season was spent studying the read option and the 49ers?

A: Just like we normally do. Any time you're opening up against a team, obviously we finished the season with that team and we opened up with that team last year. Now obviously they were a totally different team when we played them in the playoffs than they were in the first game. But sure, it was a disappointing performance. We didn't get done the things we wanted to get done, so you're going to go back and critique it from all different angles and try and make the corrections you feel will give you a much better chance this time.

Q: If you had two weeks to prepare for Kaepernick instead of one, how big would that have been? And how beneficial is it to have had an entire off-season to get ready for him now?

A: Well, they had two weeks to get ready for us. Who knows? That's all speculation. I don't speculate. But when you double up on your preparation time, it doesn't hurt. That's part of the game. No matter what the situation is, you've got to play them. Whether you've got to go there or they come here, you've got to find some way to go out and outperform them.

Q: Colin Kaepernick told Sports Illustrated in June that your defense turned on each other during the playoff game. What did you think of those comments?

A: When you've won a game like that, he can say whatever he wants. They won the game. They kicked our tail. I've seen it over the years. Those comments, I don't put much credence into it. Every time, OK, you have a chance to line up and compete, our job is to make sure we're ready to go out there and compete.

Q: The defensive players I talked to were pretty ticked about those comments.

A: Hey, I think we've got guys with a lot of pride and they take that very personally.

Q: How personal have you taken the comments that this team and your defense is soft?

A: I don't believe that. I've seen our defense over the four years set the all-time Packers' (defensive) rushing record. Now, a lot of those same guys are still playing. Some of them have changed. But I don't buy that. You know, it's easy after you have a game like (San Francisco) for people to say what they want to say. But the good thing about this business is there's always that next opportunity. We know we're all judged by what we do for three hours on Sunday — players, coaches, everybody. So when you haven't gotten done what you want to get done, to me, you keep your mouth shut, you go back to work and try and make sure it doesn't happen again.

Q: Were you concerned about your own job status in mid-January?

A: Not really. I've taken the same approach since I started in the business and it's the same thing I tell the players. If you give it everything you've got and you can look at yourself in the mirror and know you haven't cheated anybody, then you hold your head up, no matter what happens. That's just the way this business works. It's a business where you better never feel you have all the answers because you're setting yourself up. I've been blessed to do this for a long time and do it at every different level. Nine years as a head coach. A lot of years as a coordinator. So, I don't profess to have all the answers. And when we don't play well I certainly accept the responsibility. That's my job. But other people make those decisions.

Q: Don't you feel you're the same guy, though, that won a Super Bowl less than three years ago?

A: I do, and that's why you don't change much. Like I say, we've had a couple games that I'm certainly not proud of since I've been here. But if you look at our four years, most of our statistics that are important to winning, we're in the top five. We're No. 1 in interceptions, we're No. 2 in opponent quarterback rating, we're No. 3 in takeaways, we're No. 4 in scoring defense and we're No. 5 in sacks. When you come in, you know what your goals are, and to me, sometimes, you've got to look at the big picture of things. And like I say, I don't pay attention to the softness stuff, because I know we have tough guys. It's easy to say that if you haven't had a very good game.

Q: Since 2009, your playoff losses have included 51 points allowed to Arizona, 37 to the New York Giants and 45 to San Francisco. Does that drive you nuts?

A: Well, yeah. In 2011, we weren't a real good defense. Not nearly like we've been the other three years. We really dropped off and we addressed it with the draft and I thought we came back and were pretty good last year. Like I say, that's why it was too bad that we ended the way we did last year. We went from 32nd to 11th (in total defense). We went back into the top five in sacks. So, yeah, one thing about it, when you get in the playoffs now, you're playing the best teams every step of the way. You saw us out there the week before play a heck of a game against Minnesota.